Badger Bummer: Wisconsin â€˜Unveilingâ€™ Event Fizzles

By Paul Lukas, on July 1st, 2016

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Wisconsin’s new apparel contract with Under Armour kicked in at midnight, so the school held an outdoor unveiling event last night at Camp Randall Stadium. Or at least everyone thought it was going to be an unveiling — instead, they just showcased some fan merch (sweatshirts, T-shirts, etc.) and ran a lame-o hype video. In other words, a big fuss over nothing. I received several emails from Badgers fans who seriously annoyed by the whole thing.

If the actual uniforms are unveiled today, Phil will have full coverage tomorrow.

One possible bit of news from last night’s event: I believe that’s a new end zone font, isn’t it?

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Friday Flashback: With Wimbledon now taking place across the pond, my weekly Friday Flashback piece on ESPN takes a look at players who’ve run afoul of Wimbledon’s notorious dress code (including Anne White in 1985, above). Check it out here.

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The TickerBy Paul

’Skins Watch: California state law prohibits public schools from using the team name “Redskins” as of Jan. 1, so Tulare Union High School’s teams will now be known as the Tribe (from Michael Hobson).

Baseball News: If your dream job was to write game summaries of minor league ballgames, forget it: The AP will have that job done by computer software. I figure they’re probably working on software that can provide uniform coverage too, but I’ll probably be retired before they can perfect it, right? … Here’s a photo gallery from the recent Congressional baseball game (from Gil Neumann). … “At Wednesday night’s White Sox game, the Bulls’ top draft choice, Denzel Valentine, threw out the first pitch,” says Steve Johnston. “During the game he joined the TV broadcast for an interview, and one thing that came up was his wearing No. 45 both for the Bulls and then on the Sox jersey he was given for the first pitch. Long story short: He wears No. 45 because that was his father’s number when he played at Michigan State.” … The Iowa Cubs will wear U. of Iowa-themed jerseys on July 16 (from Julia LaBua). … The West Michigan Whitecaps wore emoji jerseys yesterday. … Kind of odd that the White Sox would use the Twins’ logo to tout a victory. … Someone at last night’s Mets/Cubs game was wearing the Uni Watch T-Shirt Club’s BP design. … We all know the Cubs have the circle-R trademark symbol on their jersey logo. But that same logo has a “TM” symbol, instead of the circle-R, on skipper Joe Maddon’s windbreaker (from Max Wagner). … Here’s how much it costs to do a public wedding proposal at each MLB ballpark (from Marc Viquez). … Muhammad Ali tribute jerseys upcoming for the Richmond Flying Squirrels (thanks, Phil). … Very good piece on how D-backs players feel about the team’s new uniforms. Key quote, from manager Chip Hale: “I think we’re going to make some changes. I don’t want to let those out of the bag, but I think we’ll do some different things for next year. We’ll make them more toward the traditional side.”

College and High School Football News: New uniforms for New Mexico State (from Zac Zielinski). … The recent flooding in West Virginia completely wiped out a high school’s uniforms and equipment in the town of Clendenin. “Sad to imagine some schools nationwide having a Oregon-esque smorgasbord of gear while these kids have nothing,” says Josh Newman, who hails from that town. “I know these are trivial things, as we as a community have so much to recover. But I hope you can share our story.”

Hockey News: Some Canadiens uni number changes, courtesy of Mike Engle: “Greg Pateryn concedes No. 6 to new acquisition Shea Weber and will take No. 8 now. This is after he moved down from No. 64. I think this is the first number transfer since Brendan Gallagher conceded No. 73 to Michael Ryder in 2012.” … A Chinese hockey team apparently poached a video game logo (from Jay Bracken).

Basketball News: Isaiah Thomas of the Celtics is not a fan of sleeved jerseys (from Kyle Clauss). … Lakers top draft pick Brandon Ingram initially said he wanted to wear No. 13, not realizing it was retired for Wilt Chamberlain. So he’ll wear No. 14 instead. … Fun fact: Former UNC coach Dean Smith had his letters typed in Carolina blue ink (from James Gilbert).

Not really surprised the Wisco even was a garbage fest for “revealings” but it is disappointing none the less. Have to wonder if it was Wisco or UA who made the call to not give much. Happy Canada Day!

Scott Johnston|
July 1, 2016 at 7:55 am |

Typo in the “Basketball News” section: ISAIAH Thomas is the current Boston Celtic. ISIAH Thomas is the former Detroit Pistons Hall-of-Famer.

I was just about to comment on the difficulty of deciding on how to handle NOBs for Icelandic athletes, who don’t have surnames as we know them — they have given names, plus -son or <-dottir attached to their father’s names.

My vote is for them to use their full names, with their given names above the number and their patronymics below them, both slightly curved to surround the number. Too goofy?

Yellow Away Kit|
July 1, 2016 at 11:08 am |

Hey, if they can fit “Vennegoor of Hasselink” above the number, surely they can fit “JÃ³hann GuÃ°mundsson”?

But yeah, interesting how the players chose not to go with their given names considering that’s what they basically do in Brazil (and a lot of Spanish and Portuguese players as well).

The first time I ever saw a cheesehead was coverage of a Brewers game on whatever network was carrying baseball at the time. They interviewed the guy (and his son?) who was wearing it. I would have thought that was before 1986, but wikipedia suggests this was 1987. So that Bears-Packers game is certainly earlier.

Somewhere out there, someone is kicking themselves for not seeing the marketing potential for their idea.

was looking up cheesehead history and oh my goodness! this links says CHEESEHEAD was slanderous toward Dutch people! looks like we will need a section next to the ‘skins watch to stop the use of this historically offensive term!

It doesn’t really look all that different than the basketball uniform font they had been using. If anything, I think they just adjusted the kerning to make everything a little more compact.

There was a lot of hype around the event last night. The radio station I listen to did an all-day remote with a lot of the Wisconsin key figures. They were trying to make it sound like it would be a cool thing for the fans. They’d get to tour the facility, they’d get to run out of the tunnel, they’d get to take selfies with their name on the videoboard or something like that, etc. Then, of course, the store would open and they could buy all their new merch.

Thing is, though, it says something that everyone was frustrated to find out there was no uniform reveal. Also worth noting that they made it public that they had an event before the event for about 200 or so donors. And also worth noting that they’re also doing a big event in Milwaukee today in coordination with the big summer music festival here, too. I’m sure they will make a big deal out of the UA component.

This time of year seems to be when colleges like to have these sorts of events to keep people engaged. It’s both because it’s about the midway point of summer such that it’s a good time to be like, “Hey, keep us in mind for fall!” Plus, it’s also the start of a new fiscal year for a lot of schools, too, so it’s a good opportunity to get the year off to a quick start with donors.

It’s funny, though, that they have such an event to keep people engaged, yet they don’t figure out what the fans want to engage with, namely seeing the new uniforms. Funny disconnect.

Webhead|
July 1, 2016 at 1:44 pm |

The new “font” from UA isn’t much different from the old one; but it’ll be used more consistently in all UW sports (it’s the one major change to the football unis from what I’ve seen). The end zones are brand new; they were pulled up and replaced this spring.

Steve B.|
July 1, 2016 at 9:08 am |

CFL penalty flags are orange, but the TSN graphic for penalties is yellow. Huge CFL viewing pet peeve of mine.

Jerry|
July 1, 2016 at 11:21 am |

And the replay flags are yellow. I like that they can review pass interference penalties.

Wade Heidt|
July 1, 2016 at 9:13 am |

The Montreal Alouettes also wore their white pants at home with the white helmets last night, instead of the silver pants. This was another contribution to the new look on Thursday night.

The white pants in this uniform set have only made appearances on the road in the past. They have not worn the white pants with this dark jersey.

Johnny O|
July 1, 2016 at 9:52 am |

So glad I didn’t go to Camp Randall last night for the “unveiling”. I wonder when the actual uniforms will come out.

The official shop for the Badgers does have the Under Armour merch up already. Nothing earth shattering really.

Nice infographic idea, but it would have been better had he not used outdated logos for the Astros and Blue Jays, both logos that have been gone for three years or longer.

Rich|
July 1, 2016 at 9:59 am |

This was regarding the wedding proposal infographic.

Dick H.|
July 1, 2016 at 10:12 am |

I remember seeing this same graphic (and a much longer article about it) a few years ago. That’s why the logos are outdated now, though they were current at the time. I’d be curious if those prices have changed since…

Dick H.|
July 1, 2016 at 10:15 am |

March of 2014 is when that article went up. So I stand corrected that the Astros and Jays logos were outdated even then.

Yeah, I considered including that one but decided against it since it wasn’t an actual violation.

Yellow Away Kit|
July 1, 2016 at 12:21 pm |

That makes sense. It does seem like the dress code has gotten more conservative since I started watching Wimbledon (back in the mid-80s), but that could just be my nostalgia-tinted glasses.

walter|
July 1, 2016 at 11:52 am |

Tulare Union High School’s teams will now be known as the Tribe.

(FTA) Four high schools in California are affected by the law – Tulare, Chowchilla, Gustine and Calaveras.

Chowchilla is in the process of selecting a new name, while Gustine opted for Reds, the original mascot name from more than 100 years ago that was dropped in the 1930s as anti-Communist sentiments brewed.

To recap: Fifty years ago; Redskins=okay, Reds=not. The present; Reds=okay, Redskins=not. Language being a fluid thing, any team called “Redskins” should change to “Reds” and wait for the eventual semantic shift.

arrScott|
July 1, 2016 at 11:57 am |

The UA “unveiling” fiasco is kind of emblematic of Wisconsin (the state, not the university) right now. Depressingly apt!

I was once watching Jeopardy!, and a contestant answered (or, I suppose I should say, responded with the question), “What is Wimbledon?” He pronounced it with more of a T sound than a D sound on the final syllable, similar to how you do in the video. Trebek hesitated to give him credit and ultimately went to the judges after a few seconds. They didn’t give it to him.

I laughed in disbelief. How can one possibly hinge the correctness of a response on how much T versus D sound is present in the pronunciation of a syllable. Specific accents or dialects can have more impact on the pronunciations of words than that!

Someone on Twitter just scolded me (jokingly) for saying, “WimbleTON.” Obviously, I know how it’s spelled, and I’ve heard it said out loud countless times over the years. Didn’t realize I was saying it incorrectly. Weird!

Le Cracquere|
July 1, 2016 at 12:32 pm |

Why do I get the suspicion that, of all the things that that W.V. high school lost and could use some charitable help replacing, a REASONABLE list of priorities would put the football team’s gear near the dead bottom?

Zwilcox1014|
July 1, 2016 at 1:38 pm |

I think since this is an athletic uniform website, the uniforms they lost are the only thing relevant here. Plus any and awareness of their problem would probably help them.

Zwilcox1014|
July 1, 2016 at 1:40 pm |

Any and all awareness* I forgot a word

CAW|
July 1, 2016 at 12:39 pm |

The green shirt at the bottom of the Mexico story is incredible! That would make a great keeper shirt and it almost seems kinda plausible given adidas’ recent penchant for KraZY Mexico kits

Ed|
July 1, 2016 at 1:26 pm |

The Indians are wearing Canadian flags on their right sleeve today, in honor of Canada Day in Toronto…

Raising the issue of why female tennis players opt to wear dresses instead of shorts is a valid point, but the explanations and assumptions in that article are particularly cynical. Assuming that female players want to give “a little panty flash now and then”? Cut it out. Also, the limits on grunting in tennis came about because they distracted and annoyed the fans. I stopped watching as much women’s tennis a couple years ago when the grunting was at its peak and trust me when I say it had absolutely nothing to do with objecting to the grunting being too sexual.

There’s precious little tennis coverage outside of sports sites. It’s a shame that when Slate finally addresses the subject, the article reads like it was written by somebody who doesn’t have a whole lot of respect for the game, or for the women players.

So the state banned the use of a word….Didn’t know governments can actually ban words that don’t actually incite violence now. Good to know. Gotta love liberalism as fascism. See the “Slants” case. Redskins is a legit trademark again.

BTW, Oklahoma means “Red People” in Choctaw. Ban Oklahoma!

Ryan Feuerstein|
July 3, 2016 at 5:26 pm |

While the image says the Mets are one of six teams that don’t allow proposals, a man proposed last night (7/2) at the Mets game, arranged by the team and everything, during the Kiss Cam